Buying An Old Car - Potential Problems?

[MakaveliX]

Currently have a 08 Yaris and it's doing me fine, fun to drive, fairly economical ( about £45 petrol per week ) I do about 1000 miles per month, mainly town/city driving - with the occasional country road.

I used to drive an Accord Sport 2002 and absolutely loved it, this is back in 2011 when petrol prices were more reasonable. Even then it used to cost about £60 per week, and also drank a ridiculous amount of oil due to the Vtech engine

I saw this Accord Type R going on " Motors.co.uk " ( don't know if i'm allowed to post links ) £5,500 , 93,000 miles on the clock, fresh clean MOT ( the dealer selling the car is most likely the one who did the MOT, so maybe they could hide potential problems by just passing it ? ) . Pretty much a dream car, but what would be the potential draw-backs? I'm not seriously considering buying it, but because I'm fairly new to motoring I only know so much hence why I'd like to ask you guys so I can learn more

The MPG ranges from 20mpg to 35mpg. which means it would cost a serious amount to run it, about £90 per week average petrol. Insurance would be reasonable at about £600. Road Tax likely to be through the roof due to it's poor economy and emissions.

I'd also assume if anything was to go pop, the dealer won't want to know, and it could cost a lot to fix things on it.

Realistically speaking, I'd like to get something more modern like a Mazda 3 2016. Which will be a lot cheaper to run each month, but obviously initially cost a fair bit.

So my question is, what are the draw-backs of buying an old car, in this instance a 2002 plate accord type R
Bear in mind my car is my daily driver, ( to work and to see family ) not something just to tinker with or drive every once in a while.

Thanks



Personally think it looks amazing.

Edited by MakaveliX on Wednesday 22 June 15:50

[joropug]

I had one , 14 years ago, and it felt like an old car then .

They are superb drivers cars but they will be fragile now especially rust - most are dead because of it.

I think that will be a facelift. Pre facelift had a 5th gear synchro problem , mine cost £800 to put right. Pre facelifts look way better though (bolt on front splitter looks meaner, exhausts are straight rather than downturned )

As with all higher risk purchases fuel economy and tax is just what you can see, the real running cost is when you include unexpected bills which are obviously difficult to predict. Tax won’t be that bad but mine never broke 23-25mpg and the pre facelift had to run on 99.

Parts will probably be harder to buy now too.

That’s also more than I bought mine for in 2007/2008 lol. But then the market does that.

Edited by joropug on Wednesday 22 June 09:43

[MakaveliX]

Thanks for the useful info

[MattyD803]

They were and always will be considered great cars and even the facelifts will be appreciating now (if looked after and mileage kept down)....but worth noting that they use an older generation engine (H22) which do tend to be quite thirsty and I would be amazed if you ever see 30mpg from one......realistically 25mpg round town. In terms of spares, most stuff will be available (certainly mechanically), but I expect some trim bits are are potentially obsolete now and/or expensive second hand. I would probably say there are more sensible ways to spend your £5-6k on a daily driver......not necessarily more fun....but certainly more economical and cheaper to run/service/maintain,

[Afromonk]

25mpg sounds great to me personally

[samoht]

Road tax on that is £360 pa at current rates, it misses the higher rates as it was registered before 23 March 2006.

Get it inspected, ideally by a someone that knows these cars. Rust is an issue.

Try and find a decent garage not too far away for required maintenance.

If you get a good one, and you're not doing huge annual mileages, it can work out ok - the extra running costs of an older car can be balanced out by more favourable depreciation/appreciation.

I assume that apart from rust, since it's a Honda it shouldn't be too unreliable, should still have that 90s Japanese quality.

[georgeyboy12345]

Looking at the MOT history of this car, this one does have potentially expensive rust and emissions issues, though the emissions issues could be linked to that aftermarket exhaust it’s running, which I’d be tempted to put back to stock, because while it might sound good on full chat, it’ll annoy you the rest of the time. Personally I don’t think it’s a car I’d use as a daily any more. One winter of using it as a daily will see it killed pretty fast.

[eleveneleven]

Have you considered a Civic Type R or a Gen 7 Accord Type S instead? Both are fun and would be much better overall as daily drivers

[Xcore]

They are slow and the bulkheads rot for fun, manufacturing flaw.

The recaros and LSD are nice though.